Is it worth purchasing smartphones from retailers like M.K. Trade Line?

Every year people gets hyped up for flagships from Samsung, Apple, HTC and other brands, and it’s not a case of exception in Nepal. In recent days the likes of Galaxy S series and iPhones has been increasing and can be heard from every people as well as can be seen on the shelf of every store in Nepal. While some of those are brought in a legal way through authorized distributors most of them tend to remain as an illegal product from a gray market.

We agree that unauthorized stores like M.K. Trade Line have been providing cheap products via their Facebook page, but most of you might not know that there’s a big hoax behind their business. To make things clear, stores like M.K. Trade Line basically import their products from Indian gray markets(or anywhere) and sell them at an outrageous price couple of months before an official release of smartphones(mostly from Samsung). And after some hustle and bustle(or official release), they ridiculously decrease the price of flagships in a month or so. Although most of you might think that they are doing a favor to you, the bitter truth is that they are completely tricking you by providing refurbished piece and poor after-sales service most of the time. And don’t forget to add that high price for parts and accessories of a smartphone. What’s worrying is that majority of people easily gets trapped into their cheap Facebook advertisement. It’s even more suspicious as they refuse to provide V.A.T bill or any kind of proof of purchase.

A brand new unused Nexus 6P without a box? That doesn’t sound good.

To give you a better and a true example, a year ago my friend purchased a Samsung Galaxy Note 5 from M.K. Trade Line with a 1-year warranty on the phone provided by them. The only reason behind his purchase was that the store was providing the phone at a price of Rs. 60,000 which was just dirt cheap compared to what other stores were offering him. After using the phone for just two days, the phone gave on him – later the store claiming it to be a software issue. Quite a while after inspection(basically a reason to hide the problem) by them they gave him the blathering reason that the phone’s display has been broken by him(which he didn’t) and they need around Rs.30,000 to fix it, which is just an insane amount considering that the phone had 1-year warranty & had been used for only two days. With no other option left he decided to fix it, but again later they stated that they have to send it to India or basically import parts from the USA since they had no stock of parts & accessories and a proper service center(heck! they even don’t have a proper store).

Later, we came to know that the smartphone sold by them was a refurbished piece alongside a faulty charger which basically fried the device. It has also been reported that people are even being charged over Rs.600 to Rs.1000 for a tempered glass which would normally cost around Rs.100 to Rs.300. Behavior like this is just a worrying factor for people who have purchased the phone from the store, unknowingly.

WTF! is Tihar offer?

While I was skeptical about them and their service from the beginning, the recent behavior clearly proved that they are nothing but literally just another filthy store of Nepal. You can clearly see on their Facebook page(or above) that they are providing iPhone 7 Plus 128GB variant at a ridiculous price which will basically cost you Rs. 127,550 at the Oliz Store(with official warranty). So it’s recommended that you purchase the phone from a well-known store rather than getting tricked into buying stuff from unauthorized stores or gray markets.

With IMS(authorized distributor of Samsung phones in Nepal) and other authorized distributors comparatively providing exceptional after-sales service alongside reasonably priced phones, it’s a no-brainer to purchase a smartphone from them. And that being said there’s definitely no need of gray market and unauthorized retailers like M.K. Trade Line in Nepal that are offering poor after-sales service and outrageous price for smartphone’s part and accessories. It’s true that the retail shop like M.K Tradeline tends to provide better deals than others, but the result might end up on poor side for you since their recent behavior doesn’t prove them to be a proper store. What do you think about the store? We would be happy to know about your experience regarding the store, be sure to leave your comment below.